The Mansudae Art Studio was founded on November 17, 1959. Based in Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), it occupies an area of about 120,000 square meters, 76,000 of which indoor. With a labour force of approximately 4,000 people, about 1,000 of which artists, it is probably the largest art production centre in the world. Practically all the best artists of the country, almost all graduates of the Fine Arts Department of the Pyongyang University, belong to the Mansudae Art Studio.

The Mansudae Art Studio has decided to present itself and its works to the West through its own official web-site aimed specifically to Westerners. This also to contrast the unauthorized use of its name made by several Western and Asian web-sites.

This is the only official web-site of the Mansudae Art Studio in the West.

Jewel Painting is a typically North Korean technique in which paintings are produced by applying coloured stone powders on rigid panels. This technique, very time-consuming, was previously called Powder Painting. It was Kim Il Sung who changed its name to Korean Jewel Painting to underline the fact that it was developed in Korea using indigenous precious and semi-precious stones.